


Second Chances and Different Choices

by ladyvady



Series: Working My Way Around to You [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Fix-It, M/M, Slash, some canon divergence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-03-07 09:42:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3170201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyvady/pseuds/ladyvady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Still working on a summary, but basically a divergence from canon because I'm so not happy with what's happening. This is basically what I think up that I would rather happen instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Coming in out of the rain

**Author's Note:**

> So, first off, I do plan on writing more on my other story and I hate that I haven't added anything in way too long. Life happens, and muses apparently take vacations. I will work on it though! 
> 
> This story I plan on adding to as these first couple episodes of the new season come along, but for obvious reasons there will be divergence from the show and eventually AU? Because I'd rather Kurt end up with a matured Sebastian who in my head already showed character growth when he was still on the show. I'm already working on chapters 2 and 3, but figured I would just go ahead and post this first one to see what people thought. I'm more than willing to take suggestions and constructive criticism. Also, there will be original characters as well; especially Sebastian's family. I have no beta, but I've done my best to catch my mistakes. If you notice anything, let me know! If you'd like to Beta, let me know! Maybe that would help me stay on track. 
> 
> General disclaimer---I own nothing, but my original characters and ideas.

Huffing as he once again looks across the street, muttering to himself about ridiculously attractive, but stupidly loyal to people who really don’t deserve it men. He then turns and says to his table companion “Anna, grab one of those cheesecake Danishes and a nonfat mocha, would you? I’ve got to go grab an idiot out of the rain.” Standing he looks across the street again, rolls his eyes and says “I’ll be right back.”

Before Anna can say another word or say yes to the request, her brother walks from the table to the door. She rolls her eyes and waves over the waitress to order his request. She had noticed his attention focusing across the street for the last 15 minutes, but hadn’t a clue what was irritating him. Of course, irritations to her brother covered a lot of ground, so there really was no telling what the actual problem was beyond involving a particular person. She can see what looks like a fairly attractive guy across the street, under an umbrella, perhaps looking a little lost, but she doesn’t recognize him. She’s more than a little surprised he’s garnered such an action from her brother. She’s knows all the friends he’s still in contact with from high school as well as the newer ones he’s made at NYU, and this boy isn’t any of them. Of course, it’s hard to tell from this distance anyway, but she’s fairly sure she’s correct. The only person he resembles from this distance, with the rain obscuring her view, is that picture her brother keeps hidden on his phone that he doesn’t think she knows about. Picking up her coffee to take a sip, figuring this is going to be interesting, if nothing else. 

Stomping across the street, he thought back to his last conversation with Santana. She’d mentioned how the twin hobbits had both taken a nose dive in their attempts at success. Berry thought she was TV star material and Blaine had flunked out of school, to name two points. He also remembers her laughing a lot as well as her irritation over Berry’s bitchfest with regard to Santana becoming her understudy only for her to end up running out on the entire show to go to LA, and some “meet up” Britney told her about with the “Lima Losers” (her words, not his….although he’d apply that label to some of them too) at some future date. He honestly does not understand that entire group or its dynamic (minus that it’s fucked up that is).

Reaching his destination, he blurts out “You’re absolutely ridiculous, you know that, right? Exactly how long are you going to stand around out here, _in the rain _, waiting for those losers who aren’t worth a minute of your time?”__

__Kurt is at first startled and then shell shocked, followed by being rendered speechless, and frozen with a slight deer in the headlights look on his face. Not altogether surprising, as it’s doubtful he had planned on being accosted like this; especially by this person._ _

__Grabbing impatiently at Kurt’s arm, he drags him to the crosswalk to head back to the café. “You’re coming with me and getting out of this weather. I can’t stand another minute of you waiting out here on your own.”_ _

__Finally finding his tongue, although still rather shocked at this turn of events, he simply lets out a “Sebastian?” He rolls his eyes at himself for uttering such a profound statement. He’s not even really sure why he’s letting himself be dragged along by his former high school nemesis, but numbly follows along, eyeing where his capture has grabbed his wrist as they make their way across the street and walk toward the entrance of the café his been meaning to try out. He can’t believe he hasn’t tried it before now; it’s only about two blocks from his apartment. To be fair to himself though, it’s only been open a couple months and his schedule, until the end of last week, had been fairly hectic and busy. Plus, well, he hasn’t always felt like going out anywhere, even just to a new café. Without realizing it, being so lost in thought, they’d come inside and walked until they reached a table occupied by a fairly pretty woman, who definitely looked related to Sebastian in some way. They have the same eye color and shape as well as the same color hair; though hers is cascading in long waves down her back and pinned back from her face with some wonderful little barrettes. He can’t tell her height, but she looks to be almost as tall as Kurt. Lost again in his contemplations, he startles again when Sebastian directs him to a seat._ _

__“Sit.” Sebastian says gruffly, but after noticing both Kurt and Anna staring at his behavior and tone, lightens his gruffness with a “Please” and a smile. He can tell Kurt is shocked by the way he simply sits as requested and without a word of argument or protest. Sebastian may have wanted to work on a friendship (or more, Santana’s evil little voice says in his head) with Kurt, but he hasn’t actually run into him until now to be able to try. Santana would be laughing at him now if she knew. Looking over at his sister, he figures she would probably laugh as well and share it with their brother too. After that spectacle of a proposal, he figured he never would have a chance to either and hadn’t put much effort into seeking the other boy out. Thanks to Santana though, he’s completely caught up on most of the New Directions member drama; frankly, more then he wanted to know beyond what had to do with Kurt. With the knowledge of yet another “break up” he’s going to make sure that he gets a chance with Kurt, and to treat him like he should be treated. Shaking his head a little, he returns his attention completely back to his table companions._ _

__“I’m sure you’re at least a little chilled by standing out there, and my sister ordered the coffee, so you know I haven’t poisoned it or anything.” He smirks at Kurt. “I’m assuming the cheesecake Danish will be to your liking as well. I have it on good authority that you’re fond of cheesecake and this place makes some great pastries.”_ _

__Not completely over his shock of his current position, Kurt takes a sip of the coffee and his eyes widen. “Nonfat mocha? You know my coffee order?”_ _

__Scratching the back of his neck, and losing some of his smirk, Sebastian says “Well, we’ve spent enough time in coffee shops that I may have picked up on what you order.”_ _

__Hmming, Kurt takes another sip. “It’s really good. I’ve been meaning to come here, but hadn’t gotten around to it yet.” Smiling, Kurt says “Thank you.” He’s not really sure about the situation he’s currently in, but it’s a lot better than where he was a few minutes ago. Elliott keeps telling Kurt that he needs to put himself first more often because his “friends” (there’s always quotation marks involved when Elliott says it, because his not a fan of them treating Kurt so poorly) don’t deserve him. Kurt’s tried to explain the ties between the members of New Directions, but Elliott (and Dani, Adam, and Chase) believes the group is entirely too incestuous and codependent to be healthy. After rekindling his friendship (just friendship, thank you) with Adam, he also explained (very kindly, but then Adam has always been so kind to him) that perhaps most of his relationships with members of New Directions was more than a little one sided and felt Kurt was taken advantage of too often for his comfort. None of his New York friends said it directly, but he knows they especially meant his relationship with Blaine, and he was glad they weren’t saying I told you so now._ _

__“So do you like it?”_ _

__Looking up, Kurt realizes that Sebastian has asked him a question while he was lost in thought. “I’m sorry, what was that?”_ _

__“Do you like the Danish? If not, I could order something else. They got some really great sandwiches and soups if you’re hungry for more.”_ _

__Sebastian is almost earnest looking in his attempt to feed Kurt (and flustered, weirdly enough), and it makes Kurt smile softly. “No thank you, the Danish is plenty and tastes wonderful. I can’t say that I’m not shocked to be sitting here, but I do appreciate the coffee and food.”_ _

__Clearing his throat, and completely not blushing, at all, thank you, Sebastian says “It’s nothing, really. I really just couldn’t watch you over there anymore and had to get you out of the rain.”_ _

__“I’m more than a little surprised you weren’t reveling in my misery, to be honest. We aren’t known for our kindness to each other.”_ _

__“I’m surprised it took him as long as it did to come get you actually. He could barely take his eyes off you and hold a conversation with his favorite sibling. Frankly, I’m shocked and appalled at this kind of treatment by my baby brother.”_ _

__Both Kurt and Sebastian startle this time. They had both forgotten the other person at the table._ _

__Sebastian recovers first. “Shocked and appalled, Anna, really? You should have become a drama major and not concentrated on business.” He then remembers what else she said. “I was not busy staring. I just happened to notice Kurt standing in the rain.”_ _

__“Yes Sebastian, shocked and appalled…at your blatant staring.” She giggles. “I can understand the distraction though, he’s a cutie.”_ _

__Kurt blushes at this, but manners take over and he extends his hand to her. “Please, excuse my rudeness. Kurt Hummel, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”_ _

__Anna takes his hand in return, and smirks at her brother (if she hadn’t already confirmed it herself, Kurt would definitely know they were related by that smirk alone), “Oh, a polite one as well, Sebby. You need to scoop this one up quick. And there’s nothing to excuse, except my rude baby brother not introducing us properly. I’m Annalisa Smythe, but please call me Anna.” Finishing with a kind smile directed at Kurt._ _

__Sebastian could kick her, he really could. He knew how she would be, but had been distracted by getting Kurt out of the rain and well, by Kurt in general. He settles for giving her a dirty look and turning toward Kurt, ignoring her words completely._ _

__The conversation flows for the next half an hour, with a lot of their usual snark, but minus the malice that used to lace their words. He can tell an underlying sadness is still with Kurt, but he’s glad to hear that he’s still doing well with school and work; glad that he hasn’t run back to Lima and dropped all his goals here. When Kurt gets up from the table to leave, citing that he’s got to head to work (a diner you can be sure Sebastian will be checking out) for a few hours, Sebastian is left with a good feeling about the future._ _


	2. The "Talk"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little more Smythe sibling development in this chapter, specifically Sebastian and Anna; although information is revealed in regard to other family members.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watching Glee this evening has just inspired me more to write this story, so hopefully, (crosses fingers) I can keep updating fairly regularly.
> 
> As a Author's Note: In this story Sebastian is 19, Anna is 21 (almost 22) as is her twin William, and the oldest Smythe child, Ashton, is 26/27. Kurt is 20. 
> 
> **So I had this whole rant about this season’s episodes, but I just lost the energy to deal with it. I’m only watching the episodes at this point so I know what to use in this story and I’ll just pretend the rest doesn’t exist. 
> 
>  
> 
> Also, I would love to say thank to all of you who read the first chapter, those who gave kudos, those who bookmarked the story, and those who left comments. It made me feel great and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who wishes things were going different in the show. Please, let me know if you see anything that needs fixing or even if you have any suggestions for the story. Thank you again, you're all wonderful!!

“Alright, I want all the details, Sebastian. I behaved while he was there, but you’ve got tell me the story about that boy.”

Rolling his eyes, Sebastian says, “You call that behaving, Anna? Because that’s not what I would call it at all; I’d call it annoying the ever-loving shit out of me.”

“And you called me dramatic? It’s not like you paid much attention to anything I had to say the entire time we were there. Which, I totally get, up to a point, but you have to tell me the story behind Kurt, Sebastian, because I’m sensing a lot of history there, and I know you, so it’s probably not all good.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” 

“Hmm, so most of it isn’t good, huh? Come on baby bro, my little Sebby-kins, spill.”

“Ugh, I hate when you call me that. You told me you’d never say it again. I even remember a contract and a promise to never read your diary again. As a business woman-to-be, you should know the value of a contract. I bet there’s all kinds of juicy information I can share with Tobias about his girlfriend. Or Hunter, you know he has a crush on you.” Perhaps if he can get her off the subject she’ll forget her current inquisition into something he really doesn’t want to share; it’s not exactly a time he’s proud of. She hates it when he brings up Hunter too, but he’ll use whatever ammunition he can to avoid this conversation topic.

“I lied. Now tell your sister the story of Kurt.”

Sebastian is flabbergasted. “Really, Annalisa? So you’re a lying liar who lies, huh? I’d like to say I’m shocked, as I should have seen this coming. Maybe I should share _that _information with Tobias; that way he can get out before he gets in too deep. ”__

__“First, off Tobias would want to hear this story too, he gossips more than dad’s golfing buddies. Secondly, all you’re doing is showing me how big of a deal this “story” is about your friend Kurt, Sebastian. I’m not going to fall for your distractions like our parent’s do. Spill, Sebby; I honestly don’t know what could be so bad.”_ _

__Taking a deep sigh, he collapses onto his couch to curl up with a pillow. “Not so sure friend is the right word yet. It’s nothing though, Anna, just please let it go.” They’ve just reached his apartment and he had wanted to bask in the positive interaction with Kurt for just awhile longer. Anna was making this impossible with the constant questions. He’s not proud of the history between Kurt and himself, and wishes he would have made some different choices back then. All he can do is try to do things differently from now on. Sebastian may be a jerk at times and probably a little too mouthy when it comes to saying whatever comes to his head, but he’s really not the asshole he was back during that time in high school and would like a chance to show that to Kurt. It helps that he now knows that Kurt lives closer than he realized, something Santana hadn’t told him (they’d be having words later), so there’s hope that they’ll run into each other often. He hadn’t gotten Kurt’s number yet, and although he’s sure he could get it out of Santana, he’d rather get it by Kurt giving it to him. Plus, he’s not ready to have that conversation with Santana or listen to her laughing. Anna plops down next to him, and pokes him._ _

__“I’m not going to drop this, Seb, no matter how much you try to distract me; so you might as well tell me what happened. I think you might need to get at least some of it out anyway or rather get some of it off your chest” she says, giving him a little smile of encouragement, “telling me could be cathartic.” He probably should have realized that he would have to explain once he brought Kurt over to the table, but he’d been a little distracted at the time._ _

__As he runs his hand through his hair, he says “Fine, fine…I’ll tell you, but just hold on a second.” He takes a few deep breaths, and glances over at his cat, Allen, wishing he could change places with the feline curled up on the other side of the room by the window. The little tabby is blissfully unaware of Sebastian’s plight._ _

__“You know I love you, Sebastian, I don’t know why you’re so worried. Will would say the same if he was here too.” He can tell she’s genuinely puzzled by his avoidance._ _

__“I know you do and I love you too, but I wasn’t in the best frame of mind back then, as you remember I’m sure, and I’m not exactly proud of how I behaved. I know I can be an ass (he pointedly ignores her head shaking yes in agreement to that), but I took some things to a whole other level and a lot of that was aimed at Kurt, unfortunately.”_ _

__“Okay, I kind of figured out that last part at least, with how focused you are on him in all this.”_ _

__“Yeah, I won’t say it was love at first sight, though he was a hot little thing, far from it actually. I was still pissed about France as well as mom and dad, and your brother.”_ _

__Anna interrupts him. “Honestly, Seb, he’s your brother too, despite how you both act.”_ _

__“As far as I’m concerned, I’ve got two siblings, you and Will, and that’s it.”_ _

__“I can’t believe you two keep going like this. Ashton is…”_ _

__“Ashton is a pretentious asshole who doesn’t know the meaning of family, and he’s your brother, not mine.”_ _

__Sebastian’s about to stand up and head to his room, when Anna’s hand on his arm stops him, “Okay Sebastian, we’ll ignore that topic for now; just focus on telling me what happened in Ohio.”_ _

__“Okay, okay, but I think I’ll have a drink while I’m telling you.” He pats her hand and gives her a small smile before heading to the kitchen to get some drinks for the both of them._ _

__“Fine, but this is your last stalling technique. Fess up or I’ll repeat what I did to you when you were 11 and I discovered you’d documented my ‘hormonal rages’ as your science fair project. I’ll also make sure Kurt finds out what I did too, it’s a useful technique in getting you to behave.” Pulling at the hem of her shirt, she smiles as she thinks about the revenge she’d taken on Sebastian back then, probably one of her more creative moments. “Bring me a snack too while you’re in there.”_ _

__Laughter, with perhaps a twinge of fear mixed in, comes out of Sebastian as he reenters the living room. He offers Anna her drink and sits back down. “Well, to be fair, it was a viable experiment and one of those ‘rages’ destroyed my presentation display or I would have placed for sure. You scarred me for life when you duct taped me to my bed and plucked my eyebrows, I’ve never fully recovered.”_ _

__Anna smacks him. “Ha! Shut up, you ass! Of course I destroyed it….there were pictures _and _diagrams, Sebastian. The science fair judging was going to be held at mine and Will’s school; no way was I going to let you turn it in. And as I told you before I did not cause that little quirk in your eyebrow with the plucking.”___ _

____“Hmm…shut up or talk? You can’t have it both ways, sis. I also still have my doubts about the eyebrow.”_ _ _ _

____“You have the same eyebrows as dad!” She says with more than a little annoyance. “I should warn Kurt away from you, you overdramatic twit.”_ _ _ _

____That comment cuts Sebastian’s laughter short. “Hell, you probably wouldn’t even have to bother; he’s wary enough as is I’m sure.”_ _ _ _

____“Oh Sebastian” Anna says and then brings him in for a hug. “It’s going to be okay, honey.”_ _ _ _

____Sebastian decides he’s probably delayed long enough and proceeds to fill her in on all the sordid details. Most of what he’s ashamed of happened during his junior year, up until Dave’s attempt; which gave Sebastian more than a little dose of reality on the consequences of actions and words. He’s under no illusion that he was the final push in Dave’s decision, but he knows he didn’t help. He’d hate to think he could have had the same influence or more on Kurt contemplating the same thing. Not that Kurt would have, but he knows now more fully what Kurt went through before his time at Dalton, before Sebastian came back to Ohio and he’s not sure he would have been as strong in the same circumstances. Once he’s done with the telling, he’s exhausted and deflated; not sure if he should actually work at trying to become Kurt’s friend or possibly more at some point. He turns to look at Anna and gauge her reaction._ _ _ _

____Anna sits there for a few minutes taking it all in and digesting it. She can’t say she’s entirely surprised because she knows how angry he was for a couple years, but it’s definitely not something to just be written off either. She turns to look at Sebastian and sees the fear in his eyes, “Oh Sebby, don’t be scared. Yes, some of that was pretty bad, but nothing could ever change that I love you. I’m a little disappointed, yes, especially with that crappy Photoshop job you spoke of (she gets the small chuckle she was hoping for), but I don’t think it’s irredeemable at all. Not that you might not have to work at it, because that’s a given; however, you’re in a different place than you were then and it’ll show. Plus, you have your wonderful sister to help you as well. You know William will want to help as well once he knows what’s going on.” She sits up all of a sudden and claps her hands. “OH! He’s just going to love Kurt! You better watch out, he’ll try to steal him from you once he finds about his love of Broadway and that he’s studying NYADA. You know he wanted to go there.”_ _ _ _

____“Ugh, yes I know, I know. He could have been famous, blah, blah, blah. He certainly has the dramatic flair for it, that’s for sure. God, my whole family is a bunch of ridiculous melodramatics.”_ _ _ _

____“Yes, and you are our king, your Majesty.” Anna quickly stands to perform an exaggerated bow._ _ _ _

____He promptly throws a pillow at her before tackling her to the ground to tickle her until complains about how she’s going to pee herself if he doesn’t stop._ _ _ _

____Once they’re both settled back on the couch, drinks in hand, Anna suddenly turns to Sebastian and asks “You didn’t take the steroids did you?” She’s already contemplating ways to make Hunter pay for this little bit of information Sebastian never found reason to tell her or Will about._ _ _ _

____“What?! No! Of course not, I didn’t need them to perform, and stop plotting revenge on Hunter. He’s paid enough for that mistake, trust me.” He notices Anna about to speak. “I’m not saying what he did was right, but I do understand how pressured he felt from his dad at the time and the need to prove himself to his family.”_ _ _ _

____“I suppose you do, don’t you. You don’t have to though, you know? Prove yourself, that is and you didn’t then either.”_ _ _ _

____“I know, I think a lot of that was just being angry with dad, then mom, and of course, your brother (he watches Anna roll her eyes at that last item and smirks). Lashing out at people or being mean was how I decided was the best way to handle things. I think Kurt was my biggest target because he didn’t put up with my shit and gave back as good as he got. After the first couple of meetings it wasn’t even really about his boyfriend, Blaine, or wanting to sleep with the guy. It was about sparring with Kurt and sometimes taking it too far in finding ways to provoke him. Ruffling his feathers was just so easy and even though I didn’t know it at the time, I had all his history working to my advantage and against him. In my defense, Blaine never really told me to stop and never really defended Kurt either. I was always curious about that, in a way, but it worked to my benefit at the time so I used it. Looking back now, I wonder how their relationship was really going. Ultimately though, from my side of things, they just became targets for me to latch onto and I don’t think I took it all nearly as personal as I’m sure Kurt did.”_ _ _ _

____“Well, if you can get him to keep talking to you then you obviously have a lot of things to talk about or explain on your part. I think you’re going to have your work cut out for you though, because I think he was just overwhelmed and maybe in a little shock over seeing you to fully be himself. Perhaps, it’s best to concentrate on friendship first. You don’t want to just be a rebound.”_ _ _ _

____“Yeah, I know, but don’t harsh on my mellow though, sis. I want to bask in the warm feelings I have from having a normal, adult conversation with him; even with our little innocent snipes back and forth as well as his shock.”_ _ _ _

____“Alright, alright, bask away.”_ _ _ _

____Anna leaves shortly after their talk, with a tight hug and the parting words of “I love you, Sebastian; even when you act like an idiot, remember that.”_ _ _ _

____Pushing her out the door and shutting it, he mutters to himself, “Here’s to hoping you’re not the only one who can do that.”_ _ _ _


	3. Speed Dating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt and Sebastian meet up again during the hell (and ridiculousness) that is speed dating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: So I’m stretching some of these timelines to make things work (as in making the time before Kurt heads to Lima take a little longer, so our boys can spend some time together), but considering how the actual show does it much worse than I will, I figure I’m okay. Please bear with it and call it um, creative license? and falling under the tag of canon divergence… Also, again, I am my own beta, so all mistakes are mine, and please, if they are glaringly obvious, let me know. 
> 
> ***I would also like to thank you all again for the comments, kudos, and bookmarks; you're all simply wonderful! Lots of hugs to you all! Thanks to everyone who's stopped by to check out my story. Hopefully, I'll do your support justice.

Sebastian’s been sitting as this coffee house for about an hour, reading for his Lit class and using the caffeine to help keep him awake. Normally, he wouldn’t have any problem staying awake, but this particular story was pretty dry and he’d also slept horribly the night before. The coffee here is pretty good, and the location is not too far from school, so all in all, things could be going worse. If nothing else, the other patrons should provide some entertainment as well to keep him from falling asleep since the place has been set up as the site for some kind of “speed dating” event. He’s never been a fan and feels like the organizers of this kind of thing are just taking advantage of people, and tend to attract the strangest of people sometimes. He’s lost in his pondering when he notices another person walking in, and does a double-take when he realizes that it’s Kurt. Sebastian is at a loss as to why Kurt would be here (not that he’s complaining), and then notices Kurt smiling at the person at the sign in table. Sebastian’s isn’t sure what he should do because Kurt doesn’t seem to notice him towards the back and he can’t imagine Kurt would be happy to either, but decides it’s best to stay quiet and unnoticed for now.

Climbing up the stairs out of the Subway stop, Kurt had been feeling enthusiastic about the idea of moving on and possibly meeting someone at this speed dating session. Okay, well, more like slowly pushing himself to get out more and get over Blaine, but he’s nervous as hell and trying his hardest to be optimistic about this as well as signing up for Tinder (both Elliott and Dani had pushed for that). As he approaches the coffee house being used as the speed dating site, he tugs at his shirt and straightens his clothes some; hoping his hair is still looking okay. Right inside the door is a fairly friendly looking man at table near the door with what is obviously a sign in sheet for the event. Kurt takes a deep breath and smiles; here goes nothing Hummel. 

Any positivity or hope Kurt had for this event has disappeared in a painful reminder of how many boring, weird, or simply kind of frightening people there are out there. He’s really tried to be friendly and keep up a happy front, but the accountant alone almost put him to sleep. Good thing he had coffee to ward off being too drowsy. 

This most recent guy looks as though he might be promising; not bad looking and he’s smiling such a bright smile at Kurt he can’t help but return it. That all changes about 15 seconds in, when suddenly he’s at a Renaissance Faire getting his mind read by a psychic; are Tarot cards next? The self-proclaimed psychic then spells out how he can see Kurt is still so much in love with Blaine and now Kurt’s wondering what the hell kind of nightmare he’s been trapped in. The entire thing ends when the psychic, because that’s all he is ever going to call him in his head (because he’s _never _telling anyone about this), hops up, turns from the table, and walks out of the coffee house. Kurt is left wondering how this is his life and what the hell was he thinking about signing up for this kind of thing. He’s going to blame Elliott for this, since Adam actually warned him away from it. The reminder of his relationship with Blaine was far from what he needed to hear either, even if he may have mentioned him first. Kurt is so lost in self-recrimination that he doesn’t notice another person walk up to his table.__

__“That’s all bullshit, just so you know.” Kurt hadn’t seen that Sebastian was here when he walked into this “speed dating” crapfest, and Sebastian had not been able to get to him before it started to stop the madness before it began. He’d just had to listen to that “psychic” asshole spout out a bunch of crap and generally making Kurt feel horrible, if the look on his face is any indication. Who does that kind of shit to a person at a place you’re supposed to be finding a date at anyway?_ _

__“Wh-what? Sebastian? What are you doing here?” Kurt is coming back to himself a little bit, still reeling from that “psychic” revelation and lifts his head to see Sebastian standing next to table and the embarrassment kicks in again. “Oh gawd, please just pretend I’m not here. You didn’t see me or hear anything,” he says as he covers his face with his hands. As if the entire thing couldn’t have been one of his worst ideas ever, something or rather _someone _shows up to make it worse. He keeps his eyes closed in the hopes this just isn’t happening and he’ll wake up in bed from this nightmare that’s become his life.___ _

____Sebastian watches Kurt through all of this, including Kurt’s mutterings about this “just being a dream.” Although he hates that Kurt is embarrassed, he can’t help but think he looks adorable when he’s flustered like this. He’s used to haughty or pissed off Kurt, not this. He should probably put Kurt out of his current misery and walk away to allow him to recover some; however, he just can’t. It’s been just short of two days since he dragged Kurt in from the rain and he really wants to talk to him again. With one more look at Kurt lost in his suffering, he takes a seat across from him._ _ _ _

____Kurt immediately notices this. “Oh, oh no, no, no...don’t sit down. You can’t sit down! This is hard enough without you sitting there making fun of me. Please, I just don’t think I can deal with you right now.” He sends a pleading look at Sebastian._ _ _ _

____It’s hard, but Sebastian manages not to flinch at that, because he gets it, he really does. They don’t have a good track record and one meeting at a café isn’t going to cancel out everything from before; still sucks though. He just gives Kurt what he hopes is a friendly looking smile and the cup of coffee he’d brought over for him._ _ _ _

____“I promise not to make fun of you, even though I took you as having much better taste then to come to one of these as long as you don’t take what that idiot said to heart. Take the coffee as a sign of my sincerity; although you look like you could use something stronger.”_ _ _ _

____Kurt huffs a laugh at that. “I’m not the one who claims to like Courvoisier in his coffee; however, thank you, I probably could use something stronger. I’ll take the coffee though, thank you.” He takes a sip. “I’ve promised my friends that I would ‘get out there more’ and this torture is what I decided to do to accomplish it; made only worse by having a witness to my pain.”_ _ _ _

____“Well, if it’s any consolation, I won’t tell anyone about it. I figure you’ve already paid enough, and nowadays I try to avoid kicking someone while they’re down. I was hoping that I’d left a good enough impression the other day for you to maybe not think the worse of me anymore.”_ _ _ _

____“Hmm…I don’t know. I mean, yes the other day with you and your sister was surprisingly pleasant, but you’ll understand if I’m a little wary on your sincerity. I’ve been burned too often by people (friends, Kurt thinks sadly) I thought I could trust lately, never mind someone who’s never really liked me at all.”_ _ _ _

____“I know and I’m not sure how to get you to believe me right now, but I’m sincere in promising that I won’t rub this “speed dating” thing in your face. I understand trying to find ways to not spend all weekend with Netflix, ice cream, and your annoying ass best friend who whines about everything as well as two of the most hyper idiots you’ve ever met showing up to pester the hell out of you.” Sebastian is all set to continue his rant when he hears a muffled giggle and realizes the noise has come from his table companion._ _ _ _

____Kurt tried to stifle his laughter during Sebastian babbling rant, but he fails to completely do so and Sebastian stops and looks up sheepishly at him; if Kurt didn’t know better he’d swear Sebastian is blushing. That couldn’t be the case though; he simply can’t imagine this boy blushing at anything. He has been entertained by all the interesting information that’s come out of his mouth though._ _ _ _

____“That was quite outburst you had going there, Sebastian; I feel as though you’ve had a few things to get off your chest.”_ _ _ _

____Sebastian chuckles and rubs the back of his neck. “Well, I might have some personal experience with not getting out a lot; shocking as that may be.”_ _ _ _

____“Well, perhaps a little, given what I know from high school, but there’s a more important question to all of this.”_ _ _ _

____“Oh yeah, what’s that?”_ _ _ _

____“What kind of ice cream?”_ _ _ _

____Sebastian’s puzzled for about half a second and then barks out a laugh. “That’s the important question?”_ _ _ _

____“Oh definitely, you can tell a lot about a person by the type of ice cream they like.” Kurt’s really only partially serious and he’s enjoying his conversation with Sebastian, but that’s no reason not to poke a little fun and also find out if Sebastian has good taste._ _ _ _

____“Okay, well, maybe it makes me a simple guy, but I’m partial to mint chocolate chip, chocolate chip cookie dough, or pistachio; depends on my mood and whether I feel like having to share.” Kurt gives him a questioning look. “My best friend, Hunter, hates pistachio and I’ll only buy that when he’s being a dick, so he can’t have any.”_ _ _ _

____“Nothing wrong with those choices, I actually lean toward just chocolate chip, but I wouldn’t turn down any of those options either.”_ _ _ _

____“Since you now know we are ice cream compatible, perhaps you can see your way to trusting me a little?” Sebastian also offers a smile as he says this._ _ _ _

____“I may be swayed toward this,” Kurt says, offering a smile of his own._ _ _ _

____How Sebastian refrains from fist pumping with this declaration he’ll never know, but he knows progress when he hears it; however, he can’t help but say “I’m not surprised, I am me after all.”_ _ _ _

____Kurt rolls his eyes, but laughs all the same. “You’re an idiot.”_ _ _ _

____Sebastian just stops himself from saying ‘your idiot’ and it’s a close thing. Instead, they spend the next hour talking about nothing too important, but it still allows them both to get to know each other better than they had. This time Sebastian asks for Kurt’s number (which he receives) and a spring in his step as he heads home to get back to studying Lit._ _ _ _


	4. Missed Communication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the title implies, this chapter involves some missed communication. I'm only partially happy with this chapter; it's more of a filler really. It also took longer for me to get out than I wanted, but a stomach bug hit me on Friday night and took me down through Monday evening. All better now though, and I hope to get another chapter out by this weekend some time. 
> 
> As always, thank you for the kudos, comments, and bookmarks or simply stopping by to give the story a chance.

“…it off…”

Sebastian’s moving back and forth on his bed, mostly asleep when his dream starts to shift from marble skin to Taylor Swift dancing around him asking him for a date while saying players gonna play. This is enough to make him go from asleep to awake rapidly, but although he’s now awake he’s fairly disoriented and wondering where that damn song is coming from?

It takes another three minutes to finally realize the sound is coming from his phone, not the gates of hell, and as he stares at the screen all that registers fully is the time (and not the text message that initiated the song to begin with); which is at least an hour after his wake up time is supposed to be.

“SHIT!” He yelps, while throwing off his covers and scrambling around for something to wear. He’s got about 30 minutes until class and it’ll take at least 15 minutes by cab to get there, let alone walk to class and get seated. Hunter and Jeff are going to laugh their asses off when he gets there and now he really wishes he’d not taken any classes with the idiots like he initially thought not to do. He’s honestly trying to do his best in class, and what a lot of people probably wouldn’t guess is that he’s actually somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to his grades. Missing class just isn’t an option.

He settles for what basically amounts to pajamas on most people, a beanie, and a soda from his fridge; he’s going to need the caffeine and doesn’t haven’t time to grab or make coffee. As Sebastian heads to the door he grabs his keys, bag, and slips his phone into his pocket.

Luckily, grabbing a cab happens way quicker then he thought possible, given the way his morning is already going, and he spends the time checking to make sure he has his book, laptop, and papers for this class. Probably should have done that before you left, Smythe, he thinks to himself; thankfully, everything is there. Unfortunately, the cabbie can’t drive him all the way to the building his class is located at, and he makes a mad dash for it (what he wouldn’t give for super speed). Sebastian makes it with about 2 minutes to spare and for once, neither Jeff nor Hunter are being asshats because there’s a seat between the two of them that he practically slams his body into.

He pointedly ignores the sniggering coming from both sides of him, and instead concentrates on getting his stuff out and quickly putting his phone on vibrate before slipping it back into his pants. This instructor gets particularly upset when cell phones make any noise during his lectures; he’ll have to ask Hunter how his extra assignment went from last class.

He mutters a quick “Shut up” to the twin pains in his ass, and starts taking notes when their instructor starts speaking.

 

Kurt has spent at least a good 20 minutes walking around the loft, every other minute picking up his phone and then promptly setting it back down again to resume his pacing around. His internal debate is driving him crazy and leaving him questioning his sanity for more than one reason. He’s not even sure why he’s wasting this time right now, he has plenty of things he could be doing, but nope, instead he’s pacing around his apartment like an idiot.

He picks up the phone again, bites his lip, and lets out a half groan. Finally, deciding he’s being ridiculous about this, he opens up a new message and sends a message to Sebastian, “Hey.” Kurt rolls his eyes at himself; way to be verbose Kurt. He quickly types out another message, just as witty, of course. “So how’d you like the ringtone?” 

Slumping on the sofa, he drops the phone onto the cushion, and rubs his face with his hands; it feels like his just ran a marathon, not sent a text and he might already be regretting it. Can’t take it back now though, Kurt; he figures he’ll suffer the teasing from Sebastian for it, but hopes they’ll move on quickly from that to what he actually had been texting about to begin with. Perhaps it had been the easy way out, sending a text instead of calling, but he’d told himself he didn’t know Sebastian’s class schedule and calling might not be a good idea. He’s not even sure why he’s so nervous, okay, well, no he knows exactly why he is. This is new ground he’s breaking with a person who at one-time was his ‘enemy’ and most of his actual friends have left him a little gun shy when it comes to putting himself out there. He hates that he’s gotten this way too; he remembers a time when he was a lot more assertive. At least he thinks he does, sometimes he feels as though he has had to pack so much of himself away in order to make sure his friends and his fia…err ex-fiancé are happy. Kurt stays stuck on that thought for a minute, before shaking himself and looking at his phone again; still no response.

“Well, it’s not a big deal, some people can take a while before they reply to a message” Kurt mutters to himself. He puts the phone down and decides he could probably do some cleaning while waiting as way to avoid thinking…about anything. 

He spends the next ten minutes ‘dusting’ and not watching or listening for his phone at all. Finally walking over to his phone he picks it up and looks at it again; knowing full well there’s plenty of charge and the volume is loud enough that he would have heard if a message had arrived.

“Right, well, he must be busy. He’s going to NYU and who knows what Sebastian’s schedule is like” Kurt tells himself, placates himself, whatever. “Okay, Kurt, you need to shower, there’s things you need to do today.” He makes a point of leaving his phone on the kitchen table and walks towards his closet to pick out an outfit. 

Kurt manages to stretch out his shower, dressing, and doing his hair to a little over an hour, spending absolutely no time worr...thinking about any waiting messages. It’s not like it matters, he tells himself; it’s definitely not a big deal if there isn’t one. It’s just Sebastian he reminds himself, for about the 100th time. He hates when he overanalyzes things, but can’t ever seem to stop doing it. 

Slowly he opens the bathroom door and ever so casually walks to the kitchen. Not to check his phone of course, but to get something to eat; of course, while he’s in there, nothing wrong with checking though, ignoring the fact that he hasn’t heard any chiming since leaving the bathroom. Annoyed with himself he doesn’t check his phone and sets about making a light breakfast with some fruit. His coffee maker has an automatic timer, so he’s able to enjoy a cup while waiting for his food to warm up. 

Finally he gives up and grabs his phone to check; still no message. Kurt sets the phone back down, “no big deal” he says out loud and grabs his breakfast. 

Kurt spends the next hour and a half fluctuating between pissed and fearful. He begins to wonder if this ‘friendly’ and more ‘mature’ Sebastian hasn’t just been some elaborate prank on him. Has Kurt been fooled and taken in with a faked smile? 

But why would Sebastian’s sister go along with something like that? Was she involved? No, Kurt isn’t that bad at judging someone’s character and she had been genuinely pleasant as well as nothing but friendly to Kurt. 

No, there has to be some reason. Maybe the message hadn’t gone through yet. Hmm…did he press send? He quickly grabs his phone and checks. It’s been sent, but that still doesn’t mean it’s shown up on Sebastian’s phone. He’s had messages show up hours after the person says they sent them, so he supposes it’s possible. 

Perhaps Sebastian was just being nice? Taking pity on a miserable looking Kurt in two of his not-so-shining moments and hadn’t really meant it to go any further than that. He’d seem pretty sincere yesterday though and was the one to ask for Kurt’s number first.

“Argh!!” Kurt grumbles out loudly. “Enough!” He’s wasted too much time on this already and he’s got to meet up with Adam and Elliott at some little obscure shop Elliott’s found that he wants to share. He only just got Sebastian’Kurt stands up, slides his phone into pocket and grabs his keys and wallet before exiting the loft.

 

Sebastian has just gotten back to his apartment when he remembers he never set his phone back off of silent mode. He decides to check his email as well while the phone is open when he notices he’s got a message. 

“Shit!” Sebastian finds himself exclaiming for the second time that day; without even realizing it’s actually over the same text. He looks at the time it was sent and almost says it again. It’s been hours, almost half a day since Kurt had messaged him and he hadn’t noticed. He’s now regretting going to lunch with Jeff, after they left class and Hunter headed to meet up with his study group. If he hadn’t gone, he would have at least noticed the text a few hours earlier. 

Why does this crap happen to him? Kurt probably thinks he purposely ignored the text and hates him now…again. He decides to find his balls and call Kurt; he’s sure once he’s able to explain that Kurt will understand.

After attempting to call Kurt twice and getting no answer, he’s beginning to rethink what Kurt will or will not understand. He’s contemplating dialing again, and not at all seeming like a desperate loser, when his phone starts ringing.

Sebastian stares dumbly at it for a few rings; it’s Kurt. The phone rings another time before he finally remembers he actually has to answer it if he wants to be able to explain.

“Hello?” 

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

They are both such master wordsmiths. 

Sebastian finally stumbles out an “I’m so sorry for missing your message” after about 20 seconds of silence goes by “I wasn’t trying to ignore it, or you. I woke up late and had to rush to class. My instructor is a prick and hates technology, so I had to turn my phone on silent as soon as I got there. My friends are assholes too, they were laughing at me when I ran in, but they saved me a seat at least. The lecture is almost two hours long and by then it was almost lunch time, so I went to lunch with Jeff and I didn’t even look at my phone…” Sebastian stops to catch a quick breath before continuing his explanation, but Kurt interrupts him before he can.

“Sebastian.” He tries at first, attempting to interrupt the fast flow of words coming out of Sebastian. “Sebastian! It’s okay, I understand.” Kurt is definitely not going to tell him about how much time and energy he spent watching his stupid phone or Elliott calling him out on his distraction. He also won’t tell Sebastian how he may sound somewhat cute when he’s rambling. He’d never expected Sebastian to be a rambler or get so flustered; he’s not sure he’s ever made anyone flustered before, even if it’s just over a stupid missed text message. 

“You do? You do. Okay, good. Thank you.” Sebastian is so relieved that he’s going to completely ignore how stupid he sounds. 

“Yes, of course. You don’t have to thank me either. It was just a message.” That he spent all morning and early afternoon wondering about, but again, he’s never going to tell anyone about that; especially the boy on the other end of the line. 

“Alright, if you say so, but I still feel badly that it took so long to see it. What were you messaging me about any way?” 

“Oh, yeah, right, purpose for messaging.” Kurt stutters out. In all his _angsting _he’d almost forgotten he’d had an actual purpose for texting Sebastian this morning. “Um, well, my band is kind of having a practice slash dinner this evening and I wanted to know if you wanted to come over. You don’t have to if you don’t want to or if you’re busy. Of course you’re busy, don’t worry about it. It’ll just be Elliott, Dani, and I working out some music for future gigs and dinner, nothing big or important.”__

__“I’d love to” Sebastian says quickly._ _

__“It’ll probably be pizza or somethi…You’d love to?”_ _

__“Yeah, of course I would. I have to study for a little bit, but I don’t live far from you. What time do you want me there?”_ _

__“Oh, okay, great! Um, time, right, time to come over. Dani will probably show up here not too long from now, and Elliott in a couple hours. How about six?”_ _

__“Six is good.”_ _

__“Okay, good.”_ _

__“Right. Good.”_ _

__“Good.”_ _

__Oh my god, I’m an idiot, thinks both Sebastian and Kurt._ _

__“Alright, so I’ll see you at six. I’ll message you my address.”_ _

__“Great, I’ll see you later.”_ _

__“Bye.”_ _

__“Bye.”_ _

__They both simultaneously fall back on to their respective couches after hanging up and say “He must think I’m an idiot.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the Flash references are on purpose, in case you've noticed them. Not planning on incorporating it into the story or anything, it's simply for my own entertainment. Plus, Grant's so adorable and I love the show, so there you go.


	5. Stressful Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the chapter title suggests, this is a stressful interlude (for both Sebastian and the author).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First and foremost, I apologize to those still sticking with this that an update has taken so long. I am still here, but my muse hasn’t always been (and life happens, of course). I’ve decided to post this entirely too tiny chapter (it's embarrassing, really) because I’m still working on the “meeting” and I’m not completely happy with it yet, but I wanted to post something and this portion was completed and I think works as a good "interlude". I’d say I have about two thirds written of the next chapter and once I get past this part, I’m feeling better about writing what comes after (already have several ideas plotted out, just stuck on this part, which has been frustrating). So again, I apologize and hope to post the next chapter very soon.

Sebastian spent the time before heading to Kurt’s as constructively as he possibly could; which actually meant working on school work for about an hour before his anxiety took over and he gave up. The anxiety wasn’t too bad, as it did mean that his apartment was extremely clean, but it also meant too much time pacing (while avoiding Allen, who was already pissed about the cleaning that disturbed his sleeping and hated when Sebastian paced) and thinking; finally he broke down and decided to call Anna. He couldn’t call Hunter or Jeff; they’d just laugh at him. Anna does laugh, of course, he had expected it, but she’s family, so it’s a different kind of laughter. Despite the call actually having somewhat of a calming effect, it’s mostly left him annoyed at Will, who spent the time during the conversation piping in and offering unhelpful advice. The call finally ends via hang up after Will’s proclamation that he simply can’t wait to meet Kurt, who sounds like such a tasty, little morsel. Why couldn’t he have been an only child? He’s beginning to seriously doubt the intelligence levels of his family and whether or not Will was dropped on his head as a baby. Hmm, maybe Sebastian was adopted? Maybe they were…

He’s startled from his contemplation and wishful thinking by Taylor Swift. Sebastian spends a moment staring at his phone, like he’s unsure exactly what it is and wondering how the hell Kurt had gotten this song as his text alert. Shaking his head, he opens the text to find Kurt’s address. He really does live fairly close, and Sebastian decides that he will just walk when it’s time to go. If nothing else, the time spent walking will hopefully help calm his nerves; of which he might still have a few of. He sends a text asking if he should bring anything over; the response is “Just yourself” and nothing more. 

Meeting Kurt’s friends meant meeting certain expectations, even without meaning to. Worrying whether or not they would find him lacking was something else he couldn’t help feeling. Sebastian had no doubt that the people Kurt had made friends with here in New York were more likely to be people interested in his well-being than those he still clung to from that dysfunctional glee club. He got the weird tie that held them together up to a point, facing adversity often brings people together, but that didn’t always equate to normal, healthy relationships or supportive ones either. Also, adversity didn’t automatically make someone better either, it just made them willing to deal with people or use people to reach their own goals.

Upon actually meeting them, he found the neither Elliott nor Dani were anything like he expected them to be, and everything they were supposed to be. Elliott was this unique combination of grandiosity (see _Starchild _) and grounding, while Dani held this playful, yet perceptive quality that probably made anyone she sent her approving smile at preen (it certainly had him doing so).__

__Of course, knowing what he now knew about Elliott, Dani, and surprise! guest Adam, doesn’t mean the initial meeting went quite as relaxed or smoothly as he wanted it to, at first._ _


End file.
